Prayer - It Begins and Ends Here

"You do not have because

You do not ask God."

James 4:2

It's Thursday. What was Sunday morning like for you? When you went to church, did you walk away thinking about the cleverness of the sermon,  or about the things you needed to get done during the rest of the day or did you walk away thinking about God Himself? Unfortunately, in America today, I think a lot of us walk away with one of the first two thoughts. If so, we are missing the mark. 

God has so much power that He wants to give to His Church but we don't have it because we don't ask for it. We are content with a sermon that makes us feel good or gets us to agree with the pastor about some point. We go home and maybe discuss a few points of the sermon.

We are content with a few moments of feeling close to Him as we sing the worship songs. We agree with others that the praise and worship was great today, but that's all. 

God is standing with arms open wide and so desires to fill us with His presence. He has power to give, mercy to bestow, His own special presence to be felt, but we don't ask. 

"When we get serious about drawing upon God's power, remarkable things will happen. Even if we grow listless and lukewarm, still Christ says, 'Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come and eat with him, and he with Me...He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches' (Revelation 3:20-22). 

Those gentle words, quoted often by evangelists to those who do not know Christ, were addressed to the Laodicean Christians whom Jesus had just scolded. Although He was grieved by their lethargy, He nevertheless offered His renewing love and power to any who would open the door. Will we?" (Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala). 

"Come near to God and He will come near to you." James 4:8

"Over the last 30 years, more books have been written about marriage than all the preceding 2,000 years of church history. But ask any pastor in America if there aren't proportionally more troubled marriages today than in any other era. We have all the how-to's, but homes are still falling apart. 

The couple that prays together stays together. I don't mean to be simplistic; there will be difficult moments in any union. But God's Word is true when it says, 'Call upon Me, and I will help you. Just give me a chance.'

The same holds true for parenting. We may own stacks of good books on child rearing and spending 'quality time' with our children. Yet we have more problems per 100 young people in the church today than at any previous time. This is not because we lack knowledge or how-to; it is because we have not cried out for the power and grace of God. 

What if, in the last 25 years, we had invested only half the time and energy in writing, publishing, reading and discussing books on the Christian family...and put the other half into praying for our marriages and our children? I am certain we would be in far better shape today.

That is why the writer of Hebrews nails down the most central activity of all for Christians: 'Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need' (Heb. 4:16). It doesn't say, 'Let us come to the sermon.' We in America have made the sermon the centerpiece of the church, something God never intended. Preachers who are really doing their job get people to come to the throne of grace. That's the true source of grace and mercy.

To every preacher and every singer, God will someday ask, 'Did you bring people to where the action could be found...at the throne of grace? If you just entertained them, if you just tickled their ears and gave them a warm, fuzzy moment, woe unto you. At the throne of grace, I could have changed their lives. Jim Cymbala, did you just dazzle people with your cleverness, or did you make them hungry to come to me?'

If a meeting doesn't end with people touching God, what kind of a meeting is it? We haven't really encountered God. We haven't met with the only One powerful and loving enough to change our lives.

God has chosen prayer as His channel of blessing. He has spread a table for us with every kind of wisdom, grace, and strength because He knows exactly what we need. But the only way we can get it is to pull up to the table and taste and see that the Lord is good.

God says to us, 'Pray because I have all kinds of things for you; and when you ask, you will receive. I have all this grace, and you live with scarcity. Come unto Me, all you who labor. Why are you so rushed? Where are you running now? Everything you need, I have.'

If the times are indeed as bad as we say they are...if the darkness in our world is growing heavier by the moment...if we are facing spiritual battles right in our own homes and churches...then we are foolish not to turn to the One who supplies unlimited grace and power. He is our only source. We are crazy to ignore Him." (Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala)

Korea - following the Korean War it was devastated. According to reports, there was not one tree standing in the entire country. Yet today, 60 years later, it is a thriving nation with influence felt internationally and with one of the strongest missionary-sending mentalities of any country. How did this happen?

Early America - Plymouth and Salem faced huge loss of life (over half in each settlement died the first couple of years). Yet from austerity were forged the beginnings of the most prosperous nation in the world. How did this happen?

PRAYER

"Prayer Mountain is a Christian retreat in South Korea, operated by the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Korea's largest church. It is located in Jori-myeon, Paju, in northern Gyeonggi province near the Demilitarized Zone. It has facilities for 10,000 people.

The Prayer Mountain Movement in Korea sprang from a practice of the pioneering Christians during the latter days of the Korean church in the 1800s. Faced by strong opposition from the home religions and philosophies, i.e. Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as the mandatory practice of Shinto imposed by the invading forces from Japan, many Christians who resisted the imposition on their freedom of worship were persecuted and even killed.

In desperation, the Christians who could not practice their faith openly adopted the practice of waking up as early as four in the morning to ascend the nearby mountains where they could freely pray until the first ray of sunrise. At the end of the day, before going home, the Christians would again ascend the mountains to pray and fast and ask God to intervene on their behalf.

It is said that anyone who passed by those mountains would hear the cries and weeping of the men and women who were storming heaven with their sad plight and asking God to change their situation. From then on, prayer and fasting have been the hallmarks of the strong South Korean Church." (Prayer Mountain)

Of their landing, Governor William Bradford wrote:

"Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they

fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought

them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils 

and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth."

In Plymouth and in Salem, following death and near starvation, the people didn't turn to their pastors for wonderful sermons or to their choirs for beautiful songs. No, they fell on their faces before God and with prayer and fasting, asked Him what to do, asked Him for His help, for His protection, asked Him for conviction of sin. And they did this time and time again. 

Our churches used to be houses of prayer, first and foremost. But are they today? Think about it...how much time in a typical service is spent in prayer? How many people attend your church's weekly prayer service...if your church even has one? Is prayer the priority, you communicating with God, coming to His throne of grace or are the pastor's words, the eloquence of his speech, the priority? Do you feel closer to God when you walk out of your church or are your thoughts focused on your pastor, for good or bad? 

Prayer is missing in our church and thus in our nation. 

There must be sustained prayer once again, the way the church in America used to pray, the way the church in Korea still prays today, at places like Prayer Mountain, and it must begin in our lives, our homes and our churches. 

Korea and the Awesome Move of God

But now, this is what the Lord says-- he who created you... He who formed you..."Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."  Isaiah 43:1

How to describe Korea? For those who have never been there, you may not give the country much thought. Yes, we know they make good appliances and you may have heard of their spicy cabbage called kimchi. And yes, a war was fought there, though the details are a bit fuzzy as it rarely garners much interest or instruction time in America's high schools.

But for those who have been to Korea, you will never leave the same. At least I didn't. Our family was stationed there for two years, from 2006 until 2008. After those two, all too short, years, I left that country fully convinced that God is alive and well in Korea, and doing incredible things through its people, both in their own country and throughout the world!

Korea has, unfortunately, had a 2,000-year history of frequent invasions and interference from surrounding nations. In the recent past, the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), the Russian-engineered division of Korea (1945-48) and the devastating Korean War (1950-53) have molded the attitudes and politics of Koreans. They have been mistreated horribly by others (Korean "comfort women" for the Japanese soldiers during WWII, current starvation and horrific slaughter of people in North Korea) and have seen their country almost destroyed following the Korean War. 

"The South Korea that Ed Faltin (U.S. military member who fought in the Korean War) left behind in 1952 was a bleak place. 'I left the front lines and went across the country to Pusan and Seoul and there was nothing there,' he said. 'That country was bombed out rubble. No trees. It was just so pulverized by artillery and mortars. There was nothing left.'

(Upon his return to South Korea in 2002), Faltin was surprised by what he saw. In place of rubble, he saw what looked like New York City, complete with high-rise buildings. 'It's unbelievable what they did,' he said. 'They're the largest ship-makers in the world, (the 11th largest economy) and the people are so gracious.'"

South Korea has indeed climbed out of the rubble a strong, committed Christian nation. In Asia, which is primarily Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim, Korea's Christianity stands out, like the red crosses you see on so many buildings throughout the Seoul city skyline. The first Protestant church was planted in 1884. By 1984 there were over 30,000 churches, and by 2000 over 60,000. The 2005 census of South Korea showed 29.2 percent of the population as Christian, up from 26.3 percent ten years previously.

The Korean Church grew strong through early morning prayer meetings, prayer mountains for seeking God (to read more on this go to this blog post Prayer-It begins and ends there), church-based Bible study, evangelism programs, fellowship in home meetings and at Sunday meals. 

Surveys have shown that South Korean Christians are very active. Seoul contains eleven of the world's twelve largest Christian congregations. I've been to the largest Protestant Church in the world, Yoido Full Gospel Church, and it is incredible! To be amongst thousands upon thousands of Christians, all singing praises to God...it gave me just a small idea of what Heaven will be like...worshipping the Lord with brothers and sisters from around the world. 

Praise God for the unique Korean Church! It was founded on sound indigenous principles, blessed with a succession of revivals, refined by persecution and is now one of the foremost in the world for missions vision. South Korea provides the world's second largest number of Christian missionaries, surpassed only by the United States. South Korean missionaries are particularly prevalent in 10/40 Window nations that are hostile to Westerners. In 1979, the official figure for Korean missionaries was 93, yet by 2009, that number had grown incredibly to more than 16,000 South Korean missionaries in 168 countries!

"Koreans have a fervent passion to proclaim the Gospel, a family-centered lifestyle and are highly educated. Korean missionaries are often well received by unreached people in the Chinese, Muslim and Buddhist blocks due to their relative cultural proximity. Increasing numbers of marketplace missionaries are able to enter restricted access countries where ordained missionaries cannot go," (Chul Ho Han, Director of Mission Korea.

One important contributing factor to South Korea being the second largest mission sending country in the world, has been the mission movement among college students led by Mission Korea, a coalition of 11 campus ministries and 24 overseas mission agencies working together for the common goal of mobilizing students into cross-cultural missions. Mission Korea's conference, which was first held in 1988, has grown to be the largest mission-focused conference in Asia, attracting over 5,000 students every two years.

This incredible missional movement among young people was very visible at the church we attended while living in Seoul. Jubilee Church was like no other church I have ever attended! The sense of the Holy Spirit's presence was so strong there that even my father commented on it after attending church with us one Sunday. After only short number of years of existence, their heart for missions is incredible. The church, mostly young professionals and students in their 20s, envisions itself as a mission-sending and mission-supporting church, with a heart especially for North Korea and China. It was amazing to be part of them. Our family still speaks of them fondly and prays that the Lord will lead us back to Seoul to once again worship and serve with them. 

There is so much more I could say about Korea, yet I know that my words can not do justice to what God is doing in this country through its incredible people. No matter hold strong of a hold Satan may have on Asia, God is breaking that hold and He is using the people of Korea on the front lines! 

Brazilian Sending

Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

John 20:21

I last spoke about the sending of God and what that means for the believer. Over the next couple of entries, I will share God's sending of His people in many different parts of the world. A few months back, I spoke of God's movement in Africa in African Sending. Today, I would like to highlight Brazil. 

"That the evangelical and pentecostal churches in Brazil are strong is immediately evident to any visitor. Compared to other Latin American countries where non-Catholic congregations are often small, hidden away on back streets and decidedly not influential, the church in Brazil is almost brazen in its visibility and self-promotion. 

From one or more churches on every block in some sectors of Rio de Janeiro to billboards for a Christian bookstore overlooking downtown Sao Paulo’s popular central square; from numerous radio and television stations broadcasting fiery sermons around the clock to two teenaged sisters unashamedly singing Christian hymns and choruses on an extended bus trip; from glaring neon signs proclaiming “Assemblies of God” atop the largest buildings in some rural towns to evangelicals in the president’s cabinet and a strong evangelical bloc in the nation’s congress, Brazilians are filling churches as fast as they can open and sharing their faith in a way that would put fellow believers in other countries to shame. 

“There are 40 churches opening in Rio every week,” says Roberto Inacio, the Director of an Assemblies of God Bible institute in Rio de Janeiro and writer of Sunday school material used throughout the country. “In particular, there has been an explosion of pentecostalism in the country in the past decade,” he says. 

While the pentecostal expression of faith is most obvious, other evangelical churches are experiencing rapid growth as well. “The Presbyterian church in the central area of the country is growing,” says missionary Alan Mullins who has served in the country for 30 years. “The churches are very alive, the churches are full and the people are excited about what is going on in the church.” 

While Alan says that Presbyterian growth has slowed in large cities such as Sao Paulo, with its metropolitan population pushing 20 million, Baptists are encouraged by their 900 congregations in Sao Paulo state. And, while this denomination has traditionally worked with lower and middle class groups, it is now reaching out to more affluent, harder-to reach residents of the big cities. But, such a ministry takes time says Danny Rollins, a Southern Baptist missionary in Sao Paulo. “You don’t just set up the Jesus film on the street corner like you do in a poor community and think that they’ll come, because they won’t,” he explains. 

Even youth in Brazil are openly active in witnessing to their faith. In Campinas, a city of one million people located an hour and a half west of Sao Paulo, the teenage youth group from a 3,000 member-strong charismatic Nazarene church spends every Saturday giving concerts, plays and puppet shows in city parks. “Our goal is to lead one-thousand people to make professions of faith for Christ this year,” says Beth Kinas, the group’s adult leader."  (Kenneth D. MacHarg, Former LAM Missionary)

It is encouraging to see the explosive growth of the church in Brazil! With that growth has been an accompanying growth in missions. "The number of evangelical missionaries from Brazil has increased significantly since the 1970s. There were 595 missionaries in 1972; 791 missionaries in 1980; 2,040 missionaries in 1988; 2,755 missionaries in 1992; and 4,754 missionaries in 2,000. Today, Brazilian missionaries are working on every continent," (Bertil Ekstrom, Exec. Dir. of the Mission Commission of World Evangelical Alliance). 

God is doing great things in South America (from 1900 to 2000, evagelicals grew from about 700,000 to over 55 million) and in particular, Brazil! 

The Sending of God

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, 

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners 

and recovery of sight for the blind, 

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

Luke 4:18-19

A few years ago as I was walking out to the car with my then-8-yr-old daughter Grace, she said to me, "Mommy, I really sense that God wants me to do something for Him, something outside America." I told her that I understand exactly what she is hearing from God. I too have felt that call, that tugging, that urge to go out of the comforts of my American lifestyle and share the Gospel.

It happens every day, all over the world...God draws a person out, out of their comfort zone, into something new...something He is asking them to join, for His sake. It may be overseas or it may be across the street. But the call is unmistakable and the initiative is all God's.

We can't make missions happen. It is not up to us to lead. Instead, as each of us spends time with the Lord, He begins to reveal His plans, His purposes, His pathways, and He asks us to follow. It is the sending of God.

That's what missions is...the sending of God. He tells us to go, and we follow.

And how does one prepare for mission - one step at a time. The key is hearing God's voice. You see, God doesn't need our money. God doesn't need our ability. God doesn't need us, period. He could reveal Himself to every person in the world through visions and dreams, and draw them to Him. He could make the "stones cry out" as a witness to Himself Luke 19:40.

Because He can do anything, He doesn't need us to proclaim the gospel. He wants us to participate in His work for our benefit. What, in all the world, could be more rewarding than knowing that you had a part to play in the salvation of another person?

I'm reminded of the words to one of my favorite songs that talks about this very thing.

Thank You for Giving To The Lord
by Ray Boltz 

I dreamed I went to Heaven, you were there with me.
We walked upon the streets of gold beside the Crystal Sea.
We heard the angels singing, then someone called your name.
You turned and saw this young man, and he was smiling as he came.
He said, "Friend you may not know me now," and then he said, "But wait -
You used to teach my Sunday School, when I was only eight.
And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start.
And one day when you said that prayer,
I asked Jesus in my heart." 

Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave.

Then another man stood before you, he said "Remember the time,
A missionary came to your church, His pictures made you cry.
You didn't have much money but you gave it anyway.
Jesus took that gift you gave
And that's why I'm in Heaven today" 

Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave.

One by one they came, far as your eyes could see.
Each life somehow touched by your generosity.
Little things that you had done, sacrifices that you made,
They were unnoticed on this earth
In Heaven now proclaimed. 

Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave.
And I know up in Heaven you're not supposed to cry
But I am almost sure there were tears in your eyes
As Jesus took your hand and you stood before the Lord
He said "My child look around you,
Great is your reward." 

Let me share one story that illustrates the sending of God. "Before 1991 the Gospel had managed to attract very few converts in a particular district in Central India. Seven years later, hundreds of newly baptized believers from at least 24 different people groups are learning to follow Jesus...How did so many people suddenly turn to hope in Christ from centuries of practicing animistic spiritism blended with Hinduism?" 

God sent local and international missionaries to tell them the good news of Jesus, and at the same time, prepared their hearts, through His Holy Spirit, to hear that good news. One way He prepared them for the Gospel is truly remarkable, as He sent a short-term mission team, from Scandinavia, into one of the Indian villages of the Poharis tribe.

"The Poharis are highly transient hunters who engage in animistic rituals while honoring Hindu brahminical priestcraft. They had asked for someone to come and teach them about Christ, too. But the only ones available were a short-term team of young Scandinavian women who could not have been further removed from them in almost every way.

While discussing Christ with these young women with pale skin, bright blond hair and blue eyes, the Poharis began telling them about a particular priest in their village. Five years prior he had passed through a period when most of the people thought he was crazy. He often seemed tormented by spirits.

They brought him repeatedly before various gods and goddesses for healing. All the while he kept saying, 'People who look like angels will come from around the world to our village. They will tell us about the real God. We should follow Him.'

The team asked the priest what he saw in his vision. He said, 'I saw people like you, white kind of people - they were angels. They will come and tell us about God.' When they asked, 'Do you think we are those people?,' he responded, 'I don't know yet.' 

But after four days of listening, he trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and received Him as his Savior. In the end, most of those residing in that particular village were baptized."  (from A Movement of Christ Worshippers in India by Dean Hubbard). 

God calls us and sends us out as we obey Him. Just as He sent Jesus, so He is sending us. I pray that each of us will be eager to hear His call, and when we do, step out in obedience and faith. 

Mongols Under the Leadership of the Khan of Khans

See, I am doing a new thing! 

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 

I am making a way in the desert 

and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19

This is the second part of the story about the growth of the Mongolian Church. One neat thing is that I have a friend named Christine who was a missionary in Mongolia. I asked her to share her thoughts about the growing church in Mongolia. This is what she said:

"What I'm sensing, as I am here, I feel the Lord is doing a purifying work. Because He is a holy God, and requires us to be holy, I feel that the Lord is coming in His holiness into the church. He is purifying the church and wanting to take them "deep." 

As 1st generation believers, they've gone through a lot. As the Lord purifies the church, I see Him wanting to heal, restore, renew, and revive the church...esp. the leaders of the church. The Lord is exposing darkness, so that the church can truly be light. In so doing, He wants to take the church deeper. 

Personally, I see myself as a "wounded healer." and I wonder if the Lord is using Mongolian believers to be that...

Mongolian believers DO have such a heart for evangelism. And I agree that I can see Mongolians being such strategic people to be sent to the world. You can't help but to pray that the Lord use these people to conquer nations for the Lord. In the past they may have conquered nations by killing and attacking them, but this time, that they would conquer nations with life in Christ...with the love of Christ. 

I can see their potential. We need more people who have hearts to disciple and mentor these leaders...to walk through character formation, take them deeper into His presence, His will." 

Here is the second half of Brian Hogan's story about the Church in Mongolia. I pray it will encourage and excite you to see what God is doing in our world! If you have not read the first part, I encourage you to read it at Mongolia, from darkness to light in our generation

"The second factor in the sudden acceptability of the good news by the traditional Mongols was the decision by our team and the “elders-in-training” to begin using the Mongolian term “Borkhan” to refer to the God of the Bible.

Many centuries before, when Tibetan Buddhist missionaries arrived in Mongolia, they adopted “Borkhan,” the generic Mongolian term for “god,” for their purposes. In the early ‘90s, nearly all the believers in Mongolia used another term for God, Yertontsin Ezen, which was a brand new term composed by a translator in an attempt to avoid any potential confusion or syncretism with the beliefs of Buddhism. 

But the new term, which can be translated “Master of the Universe,” sounded unfamiliar and unreal to Mongolian ears. It had no intrinsic meaning for them and was essentially a foreign word made up of Mongolian elements. Although the Erdenet elders-in-training were used to using the term Yertontsin Ezen, they decided that the traditional term Borkhan would be more appropriate and acceptable and was capable of being filled with biblical meaning. 

This change came just in time for the suddenly open crowds who witnessed healings and deliverances. The God who was working these wonders had a name that didn’t sound like science fiction."

I wrote about this very thing in my blog entries Is Allah God? and Eternity in their hearts

"During this period of explosive growth our team was careful to stay “behind the scenes,” giving on-the-job training for the emerging leaders. Care was taken to do everything in ways that could easily be imitated—baptisms were in bathtubs, worship songs were not imported, etc.

We made sure Jesus’ basic commands were taught in such a way that disciples could immediately respond in obedience. The house churches enabled, supported and encouraged these practical responses to the teaching from God’s Word. Believers helped one another to do the Word and not just hear it, often finding corporate ways to obey together.

Yet there were serious problems from our point of view where the cultural norms of Mongolian society conflicted with some of the moral teaching of the Scriptures. The elders-in-training were encouraged to search the Scriptures to find solutions for sin problems in the emerging church. Cultural blind spots in the areas of sexual purity and courtship were dealt with by defining principles, then teaching and enforcing them. The solutions these Mongol leaders crafted were both biblically and culturally correct—much better than solutions we missionaries might have crafted.

The emerging Mongolian church looked far different from any of our team’s home churches in Sweden, Russia or America. Dramas and testimonies quickly became prominent features of the large celebration meetings (which went from once to twice a month and eventually weekly). The “drama team” wrote and produced their own skits, plays and dramatic dances from Bible stories and everyday Mongolian life. This became a powerful teaching and evangelistic tool. 

Time was always set aside for testimonies from “real Mongols” —often new believers in their ‘60s just come from the steppes. These long and, to Western ears, rambling stories of salvation gripped the fellowship in a state of rapt wonder and awe. God was on the move among their people— dressed in the most traditional of Mongolian clothing. Worship rose from their hearts as they sang new songs written by their own people in their own language and unique musical style. This was no foreign fad or import!

Our team of expatriates concentrated our efforts upon discipling, equipping and releasing Mongols to take the lead in building up the church and reaching the lost. A school of discipleship was formed and by the third class was entirely Mongol led. With the emphasis upon “learning by doing,” new leaders were trained locally in the ministry rather than being sent away. The leadership of the home gatherings had been placed into their hands almost immediately, and soon the Mongol believers also carried the majority of the responsibility for the weekly services.

All of this progress and growth was not overlooked by the Enemy. Beginning in November of 1994, our team and the fledgling church endured two solid months of unrelenting spiritual attacks: three cult groups targeted our city, the church was almost split, leaders fell into sin and some were demonized. Our team came close to despairing and pulling out.

Finally, two sudden and unexplainable deaths rocked the missionary team and the church. My only son, Jedidiah, had been born on November 2nd. On the morning of Christmas Eve our apartment rang with screams when Louise discovered Jedidiah’s cold and lifeless body—dead of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at two months. We buried our boy and a piece of our hearts in the frozen soil on a cold windswept hillside outside of town. The next day a young girl in the church died from an unknown cause.

In response, the believers and our team came together for 24 hours of prayer and fasting. At three in the morning, a breakthrough occurred and everyone knew it. The church has never been overwhelmed by an onslaught of spiritual warfare like that since.

As encouraging as this start in Erdenet was, it still fell short of the vision God had given to our team. We knew the planting of a single church in one city would not be the break-through to reaching an entire nation and beyond. We were aiming for a movement of indigenous and spontaneously multiplying churches within the Mongolian peoples, and the Mongolian believers themselves needed to share this goal.

At the very first baptism, Magnus shared this vision with the newly born body of Christ: to reach all the families of Erdenet with the gospel, to plant a daughter church in the neighboring province and to reach other unreached peoples of the world. The young believers, blissfully clueless, responded very enthusiastically. We trained all of the disciples to view the church as a living organism rather than an organization—a healthy “mother church” that would reproduce into daughter and granddaughter churches. The leaders we trained kept the vision—“God wants to plant new churches though our church”—before the members.

During the church’s second year, the elders sent out teams and planted a daughter church in a town 60 kilometers away. Because they were of the same people group, planting another congregation was easy for the Mongolians. The leaders the Lord raised up for this daughter church soon began sending teams out to plant granddaughter churches in other towns even farther from Erdenet.

After just three years of work by our team in Erdenet, we came to the realization that our efforts had borne good fruit and we had “worked ourselves out of a job.” In the beginning of 1996, we had successfully modeled and passed on every ministry and function in the church movement to Mongolian disciples. The Mongols were doing everything and we were just watching. The bittersweet moment that had been our goal all along had come. It was time to say goodbye.

The Easter service was packed—standing room only. Nearly 800 filled the largest hall in Erdenet with many more turned away by the authorities, who closed the doors when they saw the crowds. Those who managed to get in gathered to worship Jesus and to witness the ceremony marking the passing of authority from our foreign church planting team to the local elders. We explained and acted out the analogy of a relay race to portray graphically what was taking place. A baton was handed from our family and Magnus, representing the church planters, to a group of Mongolian leaders in full national dress. They were so ready! 

The baton was passed. For the first time in history, a fully indigenous Mongolian church was in Mongolian hands—and they in turn were firmly in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus.

Our family left Mongolia that very day, and the rest of the team left in June when their English teaching commitments ended. In our absence, the Mongolian churches continued to grow and multiply. They started a number of mercy ministries as well. They began to feed and clothe street children, care for single mothers and prevent abortions and even planted a church among dump dwellers. All of these initiatives were completely from and by the Mongolian believers.

The movement continues. By 2008, the church in Erdenet had given birth to 15 daughter churches in towns scattered across the country. Some of their daughter churches have themselves reproduced from one to six granddaughter churches. A very satisfying report—considering we started with only teenage girls!

This movement has also been hard at work cross-culturally. Teams of Mongol church planters have been sent to Muslim peoples in two other countries, to an animistic forest tribal people, as well as already having launched church planting movements among several other Mongolian tribes. Five of the daughter churches and four granddaughter churches are missionary church plants among distinct ethnic groups. A missionary training school in Erdenet trains the Mongolian Church’s emerging mission force.

God seems to have made the spiritual soil of Mongolia especially fertile for church planting. The gospel continues to do its life giving and community-changing work. Churches continue to grow and reproduce. 

Conservative estimates state that the number of believers grew from just two in 1990 to over 50,000 believers in 2005. Mongolia has changed from a mission field to being a powerful mission force— sending out more missionaries per believer than any other nation on Earth. As in a pre- vious age, Mongols again thunder off to the nations beyond their barren hills—this time under the leadership of the “Khan of Khans”—King Jesus!

Mongolia - From Darkness to Light in our Generation

"And I tell you that you are Peter, 

and on this rock I will build My church, 

and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Matthew 16:18

When I was born in 1970, Mongolia was a dark country, completely closed to the Gospel behind the Iron Curtain of communism, with no known Christian believers. Today, it sends out more Christian missionaries, per number of Christians, than any other nation in the world.

How did this nation move from darkness to light in less than 40 years? Brian Hogan, part of a Youth With a Mission church planting team working in Mongolia, tells the story in There's a Sheep in my Bathtub: Birth of a Mongolian Church Planting Movement. 

"In the 13th century, the Mongol tribes, united under Genghis Khan, thundered across the steppes of Central Asia and terrorized the known world. In a short time, these fierce horsemen had carved out an empire dwarfing those of Cyrus and Caesar combined.

The Mongol empire was not to endure for long. The Mongols embraced Tibetan Buddhism and became a backward hinterland ruled by a succession of Chinese dynasties. In 1921, a Communist revolution turned Mongolia into the first “independent” Soviet satellite. All missionaries were expelled before any church had been planted, and the darkness of Communism settled over this “closed” country. 

Mongolia was one of the very few countries on earth with no church and no known national believers.

After 70 years of being sealed off from the outside world, Mongolia gained freedom and independence along with other Soviet Bloc nations in early 1990, and Satan’s defenses against the gospel came crashing down. Creative strategies sparked the beginnings. 

A team of Native American believers entered Mongolia as tourists in 1990. Their visit generated a great deal of interest among Mongols and even hit the national press. By the end of their second visit in 1991, they had publicly baptized 36 new Mongol believers. The spiritual landscape of Mongolia would never be the same. 

A young Swedish couple, Magnus and Maria, came to Mongolia intending to plant churches. As they began to learn the language in the capital, Ulaan Baatar, friendships developed with the new and very young Mongolian believers in that city’s growing churches.

Maria and Magnus made several forays up to Erdenet, Mongolia’s third largest city, with short-term Mongolian evangelism teams from a church in the capital city of Ulaan Baatar. These trips bore fruit in the form of 14 teenage girls who responded to the teaching on faith and repentance. Magnus baptized these first disciples in January 1993, the beginnings of the church in Erdenet.

Fourteen young girls—not a very auspicious beginning. The new fellowship needed on-site help if it was to grow into anything more. In February, the young couple moved up to Erdenet accompanied by one of the best students in their English classes, a 19-year-old female Mongolian believer named Bayaraa.

As Magnus and Maria ministered with and discipled Bayaraa, their relationship served as an effective bi-cultural bridge. Magnus and Maria gained important insights into Mongolian culture that guided their ministry. Bayaraa was a natural evangelist. What she learned about Jesus and the Bible from Magnus and Maria, she put to immediate use leading many to the Lord.

The disciples were quickly organized into three groups that met in homes. They gathered for prayer, fellowship and teaching in an atmosphere of support and accountability. From the very beginning they were taught to obey the simple commands of the Lord Jesus Christ. They learned to love God and each other, to pray, give generously, repent and believe, baptize, celebrate the Lord’s Supper and to teach others to love and obey Jesus. 

As the girls led their friends to Christ, the groups multiplied. Magnus couldn’t lead the expanding number of groups, so active and faithful believers were equipped and released into leadership. After some time, they began a larger gathering, the “Celebration Service,” on a monthly basis to bring the house groups together for corporate worship and fellowship. After one year, the number of baptized Christ followers had grown to 120—almost all teenage girls! This was not the multi-generational church of entire families the church planters were dreaming of - it was half a youth group.

After a year of language study in Ulaan Baatar, my wife Louise, our three daughters and I moved to Erdenet joining Magnus, Maria and Bayaraa. A year later, others from Russia, America and Sweden joined our team’s ranks. Apart from three members of the Peace Corps, our team was Erdenet’s sole foreign presence —we were utterly different. We tried to work from behind the scenes so the movement would have visible Mongolian leadership.

We realized that teenage girls were not the best foundation for starting a church movement. At that time, however, youth were the only ones responding anywhere in Mongolia. So we worked with the fruit the Lord provided and prayed for a breakthrough to begin reaching whole families. We established “provisional elders” (starting with two younger men and Bayaraa) in order to begin the process of allowing a Mongolian style of church leadership to develop.

There was a great divide between our youthful, urban circle of friends and the family-oriented heart of traditional Mongolian society. The three cities of Mongolia were a relatively recent and imposed urban social structure overlaid by Communism upon a nomadic tribal society—and nomadic social structure was seen by all as the more legitimate and authentic of the two. Even our early converts had the impression the gospel wasn’t relevant for “real Mongols.” 

Even though Mongolia had become a 50% urbanized society, to the Mongol understanding, “real Mongols” are horse-riding pastoralists and gher (traditional round felt tents) dwellers. An urban teen growing up in an apartment building who has never even sat on a horse is not an authentic Mongolian. The gospel would be seen as just a foreign import, like Coca Cola, if it were only embraced by city dwellers. If Jesus were going to “become a Mongolian,” He would need to enter into the lives of nomadic herders.

A visiting short-term team began to pray for the sick in some of the traditional gher suburbs on the outskirts of town. God answered prayer dramatically. A lame person, a deaf person, a mute person and a blind person were all healed, and several demons were cast out. These healings provided a seal of authenticity recognized by the older Mongols. 

The news spread like wildfire and the fellowship was flooded with growth from every age group and segment of the city. The urbanized youth were especially surprised that “real Mongols” were coming to faith. 

Soon two older traditional Mongol men joined the ranks of our provisional elders. When these men, who were respected heads of households, began leading house churches and ministries, it made a huge difference in gaining credibility for the movement in the larger culture."

This story doesn't end here...I will share more tomorrow. 

It Begins with Prayer

Sacrifice thank offerings to God, 

fulfill your vows to the Most High,

and call upon Me in the day of trouble; 

I will deliver you, and you will honor Me."

Psalm 50:14-15

Over the past few years, God has been moving my heart away from politics. While I still am incredibly thankful for my country and will vote and pray that Godly men and women are elected to office, I no longer look to Washington DC to keep this country strong. No...that is not where our hope lies. 

Our hope lies in God alone...and not just for this country but for the world. I am wrong if my focus is only on America. I am wrong if I desire change in Washington DC so that we can return to the "good life" of lower taxes and a better economy. I am wrong in believing that if we can just get the right people elected everything will be okay. 

I am only right when my focus is on God alone. I am only right when I look to Him for His plan, not my own. I am only right when I seek His hand of "Divine Providence" to move in our nation and do His will. 

This is not some strange idea...dependance entirely on God. This "firm reliance on Divine Providence" is what once lay at the heart of our nation. We didn't look to our military or Wall Street or our government for deliverance...we looked to God alone. And He delivered. 

He will deliver again, but not unless we ask Him. And that is where it all begins...PRAYER. 

A few years ago I read a book called Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. Ever heard of the Brooklyn Tabernacle or its choir? He is the pastor. The church began in the early 1970s in a run-down building in a rough part of New York City with fewer than 100 people. Pastor Cymbala quickly became discouraged and thought many times of giving up until God impressed a message on him one day: "If you and your wife will lead my people to pray and call upon My name, you will never lack for something fresh to preach. I will supply all the money that's needed, both for the church and for your family, and you will never have a building large enough to contain the crowds I will send in response." 

Pastor Cymbala went back to his congregation, shared God's message with them, and said, "'If we call upon the Lord, He has promised in His Word to answer, to bring the unsaved to Himself, to pour out His Spirit among us. If we don't call upon the Lord, he has promised nothing - nothing at all. It's as simple as that. No matter what I preach or what we believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer. 

This is the engine that will drive the church. Yes, I want you to keep coming on Sundays - but Tuesday night is what it's really all about'...A minister from Australia (or perhaps it was New Zealand) happened to be present that morning - a rare occurrence. I introduced him and invited him to say a few words. He walked to the front and made just one comment:

'I heard what your pastor said. Here's something to think about:

You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning.

You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. 

You can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.'" 

As soon as I finished reading that, my mind went back to our church, Jubilee, in Seoul, South Korea. Their times of prayer were more powerful and unique, than any I had ever experienced. Once Pastor David had finished his sermon, he would then lead us in prayer for about 30 minutes. 

What stood out to me was not his wonderful words, but our involvement. He would pick out four or five main points from his sermon. He would then list the first point and pray over that point. As soon as he was finished, the entire congregation would then pray out loud, for about 5 minutes, over that point...personally applying it to their own lives. As I prayed, all around me I could hear my brothers and sisters in the Lord praying to God. It was incredible!!! 

I've not been back to Jubilee in ten years since we moved to Charleston, SC. But my heart longs to return. It's not because of Pastor David's preaching, though it was and still is, wonderful. No, it's because of the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit that can be felt and seen in the lives of Jubilee members. And it is never more felt than during those times of corporate prayer. 

Pastor Cymbala, who encourages the same practice of group prayer, talks about this in his book: "During countless Tuesday night prayer meetings I find myself encircled by the sacred sounds of prayer and intercession filling the church...overflowing from every heart present...I can't help but think, 'This is as close to Heaven as I will ever get in this life. I don't want to leave here...(nothing else would ever) bring the kind of peace and deep joy I sense here in the presence of people calling on the Lord.'" 

That is what America and our world needs. We have got to get on our knees, before a Holy God, truly desiring to be in His presence and asking Him to shine His light through each of us. 

Though Pastor Cymbala wrote his book in 1997, this message is for today: "Satan's main strategy with God's people has always been to whisper, 'Don't call, don't ask, don't depend on God to do great things. You'll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.' The truth of the matter is that the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God."

Revival, Awakening...that is what America and this world needs. A return to God! And it begins with each of us. It begins by setting your clock an hour early (or staying up an hour later if you are a "night owl") and spending time with Him. And not out of guilt or duty but out of desire. 

"If we don't want to experience God's closeness here on earth, why would we want to go to Heaven anyway? He is the center of everything there. If we don't enjoy being in His presence here and now, then Heaven would not be heaven for us. Why would He send anyone there who doesn't long for Him passionately here on earth?" (Jim Cymbala)

Power Encounters

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, 

he made a public spectacle of them, 

triumphing over them by the cross. 

Colossians 2:15

“Christianity has all too often been presented as a religion of the textbook and the head,” (C. Peter Wagner). This type of approach appeals to our rational, Western mindset. But it has very little influence on much of the unreached world which is held captive by powerful demonic forces. 

For them, the display of God’s power to heal and free them from demonic possession is much more convincing. When Jesus came to earth, He won people to Himself through both approaches...the rational explanation of who He was and what He had come to do as well as through miracles and power struggles won over the demonic world. Westerners need to first believe in the spirit world and then learn how to overcome this world through the power of Jesus Christ.

In my last blog entry, Are Harry Potter and Twilight for real? , I spoke about the power of the demonic world. It holds much of the world captive to fear. But the power of Jesus Christ is so much greater! When Christ is revealed as more powerful than Satan and his demons, a show of power takes place. These power encounters are happening all over the world. They are one of the main ways that Christ built His Church in the past and how He continues to build it today. 

The Bible is full of these power encounters, where the power of God directly challenges and overcomes the power of Satan and his demons:

- Moses vs. Pharaoh and his priests Exodus 7:10

- Joshua vs. the city of Jericho Joshua 6:15

- Samson vs. the Philistines Judges 16:23

- David vs. Goliath 1 Samuel 17 

- Elijah vs. the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel 1 Kings 18:20

- Jesus vs. the demons possessing men at Gadarenes Matthew 8:28

- Jesus vs. demon possessing young boy Matthew 17:14

- Jesus vs. hold of death over Lazarus John 11:38

- Jesus vs. Satan in the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26:36

And ultimately...Jesus vs. Satan and death through His sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection! Matthew 27

These power encounters did not end with Biblical times. They continue today throughout the world wherever Christ is preached. There are numerous instances of this...I would like to share a few below:

- a missionary in Cuba tells how God stopped a storm to increase faith in Him (see storm)

- various stories of deliverance from Youth With a Mission missionaries (see stories)

In conclusion, Western Christians need to be aware of the spirit world and take it seriously. But we don't need to fear it. Our focus should never be on the occult or we may grow fascinated with it and be drawn into unholy focus on demons and Satan. But neither should we be blind to the hold it has on much of the world. 

Are Harry Potter and Twilight for Real?

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 

but against the rulers, against the authorities, 

against the powers of this dark world 

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

In America today, there is a growing fascination with things of the occult. Harry Potter and Twilight are just two of the more popular book and movie series which portray sorcerers, witches, vampires and such as intriguing, beautiful and evil, all wrapped up in a slick, attractive package. To most in America, these characters are just that, characters in a story who have no real basis for reality in this world. 

This is where America is mistaken. The demonic world is very real. The Bible talks about this world many times, (Romans 8:38, Matthew 8:31, 1 John 4:1). It is not something to be celebrated, glamorized or used for Hollywood profit. On the other hand, it is not something to be feared, if we have the Holy Spirit living within us. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

Picture a world where you believe that spirits/demons inhabit trees, animals and other people. If a loved one grows sick and dies, it is not because of cancer or TB but because of a demonic curse. If your crops fail for lack of rain, it's because you didn't offer enough sacrifices to the local gods (Deuteronomy 32:17). You may perform any number of sacrifices, including your own children, in an effort to try to make the demonic powers happy (Psalm 106:37). You worship cows, as the Mahratta of India do, because you believe there are 330 million gods inside their stomachs. Your life is filled with fear, anxiety and a real awareness of a powerful spirit world.

This is reality for the vast majority of countries in the world. Much of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and even parts of Europe and South America live in fear of spirits forces and do their best to appease them. 

The fact that Western Christians have little understanding or personal knowledge of demonic forces, I believe, stems from our privileged status in America. Yes, demonic activity is alive and well in America but it is much more subtle. Our country’s Christian heritage and large number of believing Christians has in many ways protected us from this harsh reality in so much of the world. 

Unfortunately, this privileged status has caused us to disregard the devil, debating on our talk shows whether evil or the devil really exist. Satan is more than happy with that. When we glamorize demonic activity as in Harry Potter, Twilight and a myriad of other books, TV shows and movies, or view the devil as a little red man with a pitch fork, we are, in essence, not taking him seriously. We do not realize that we need to resist Satan and the demonic world (1 Peter 5:8, James 4:7) and that we must know how to wage war against him (Ephesians 6:13).

This is not only about Americans, though. We are told to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, sharing the love of Christ with the lost. How do we do this if we really don't believe or understand the demonic world that holds so much of earth captive? Hospital advice will not speak to a woman’s heart who believes that the reason she is infertile is that an evil spirit has brought this upon her. Agricultural advice will not speak to a farmer who believes that if he does not sacrifice precious cattle to an unseen demon, rain will not come. The preaching of peace and tolerance will not speak to a tribe who believes that a neighboring tribe has cursed them time and again. 

In these instances, they need to see that the power of Christ is so much greater than the power of the demonic world with which they are very familiar. When this happens, when Christ is revealed as more powerful than Satan and his demons, a show of power takes place. I will share more about these power encounters in my next blog.